Members of 854 Naval Air Squadron were presented with the Afghanistan Operational Medal by the First Sea Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope KCB OBE ADC, during a ceremony at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose in Cornwall.
854 Squadron returned recently from Afghanistan working in the most demanding of conditions where temperatures often exceeded 45 degrees, and rarely dipped below 35, and where dust and sand storms were a common feature, and exhaustion remained a constant worry. The threat from enemy forces was an ever-present concern, the relentless influx of dead and injured from the battlegrounds of Helmand to the hospital at Bastion served as a constant reminder of the serious nature of this campaign.
The Squadron provided surveillance of the battlespace, detection and interdiction of enemy supply routes, and provided over-watch of UK re-supply patrols and assisted the counter-IED effort. Its operations resulted in the detention of enemy combatants, the destruction of weapons and narcotics and recovery of enemy money and equipment.
In his address to the squadron Admiral Stanhope said: “The Eye-in-the-Sky capability of the Mark 7 Sea King was greatly enhanced with the fitting of the Searchwater 2000 radar a few years back, able to detect, track and intercept contacts over land or sea. What these helicopters can do is see a long way, a very long way, in great detail and then pass that information on, quickly and accurately. Their ability to do that is better-developed than anyone else’s, and is the best in the world.”
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